Catalogue entry

In January 1942, Folinsbee was invited to paint his third WPA mural project, this time for the new post office in Burgettstown, Pennsylvania, thirty miles west of Pittsburgh. Section of Fine Arts chief Edward Rowan was mindful of the controversy Folinsbee's murals had caused in Paducah, Kentucky, two years earlier, and was not interested in having it repeated in Pennsylvania. He wrote Folinsbee in February that he was not "desirous of antagonizing the public in matters of art and, as you are aware, there are two schools of thought on this...In case there is serious local objection to a decoration at this time, I will appreciate your notifying me with the understanding that the work will automatically be terminated for the duration." However, there would be no controversy in Burgettstown over Folinsbee's design and its focus on the town's mining and industrial complex.

Folinsbee was again assisted by his son-in-law, Peter G. Cook, and the two traveled to Burgettstown to check out the location sometime in May. They sent Rowan their impressions of the place on the 25th: "Burgettstown itself is a drab place with one main street which winds through a valley--most of the industrial life is due to a large chemical plant (the stacks which show in the distance of our sketch) and the surface mining which runs for miles beyond the town limits. The most imposing feature we could discover was the dramatic quality of the hills and the sweep of railroads--most impressive when seen from a high point of view." Folinsbee's studies and completed mural certainly captured the dramatic quality of this vista, depicting the hills and the broad sweep of the railroads cutting through them. The mural was installed in September 1942.

Photograph courtesy of James Emerson.